Exercise

1. The pairs of consonants listed below are separate phonemes in English. Provide minimal
pairs showing how these sounds contrast word meaning.

Phoneme Word initially Word finally

s
/p b / pat bat cup cub
/b m/
/t s/
/z /
/p t /
/d n/
/k g/
/s ʃ /
/ʧ ʤ /
/l d/

2. Transcribe only the phonemes of the following text.

When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a
miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the
ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable
Irish Catholic childhood.

3. Consider the following English words containing the phoneme /ɡ/.

[ləɡwun] [ɡloʊ]

[bræɡ] [g̟is]

[iɡər] [æŋɡər]

[ɡɑn] [ɡwɔɪɾər]

[ɡwoʊt] [ɡwus]

[g̟æf] [g̟eɪt]

[frɑɡ] [ɡʌɾər]

[ɡaʊn] [ɡreɪd]

a. List the allophones of /ɡ/.

b. State in words the environment in which each allophone is found.
Answer example:
[ ɡw ] occurs before rounded vowels, etc.
c. Write a phonemic rule for /g/, listing one allophone as “elsewhere”.

4. Consider the following English words containing the phoneme /k/.

[kʌpəl] [lʊk̟ɪŋ]
̚
[ɑkteɪn] [kaʊ]
[mɑk̚t] [kwulər]
[skərt] [mæsk]
[loʊkəl] [sɪkən]
[k oʊt]
w
[sɪk̟ɪl]
[k̟eɪm] [kloʊz]
[k̟æmərə]

a. List the allophones of /k/.

b. State in words the environment in which each allophone is found.
c. Write a phonemic rule for /k/, listing one allophone as “elsewhere”.